Message in a Bottle
by SapphirusDea
Summary: "Hello, my name is Haruno Sakura. I am twenty years old, and I am suicidal." He did not realize that she was the reason that completely changed his life.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in it. -walks to a dark corner and wails-_

* * *

_Hello, my name is Haruno Sakura. I am 20 years old, and I am suicidal._

_Weird, huh? I admit, I've got issues._

_I've tried killing myself continuously for the past couple of years, even though all of it failed miserably. I've tried to hang myself a couple of times – and it was __extremely__ uncomfortable, and actually hard to die from –, overdosed on Tylenol, jumped in front of a car – that stopped; damn the driver with super-excellent control –, and even tried jumping off a building once – that one was both thrilling and close; I would've totally succeeded if this extra-strong police guy hadn't caught me through a window; a __window__ –. However, just a few months ago, I was extremely close to succeeding when I cut my wrist and soaked myself in my bathtub. If my neighbor hadn't come to visit me just a half an hour later and brought me to the hospital, I would've been dead by now. Yeah, it was a shame._

_Anyways, basically, I'm very strange, weird, daring, and I'm sure you would've noticed by now that I'm actually very creepy. I'm sorry if I'm scaring you! Truly. I just want to do something actually – possibly? – meaningful before I die, which I hope is soon. _

_I live on 166 Katana St. in Suna, Japan. If you want to visit me any time, feel free to! I need some more spice in my life, anyway, and what's spicier than meeting a stranger? However, if you actually decided to come here and I'm already dead, don't worry, I'm sure I'll look over you as your guardian angel or something. Ha._

_Much love!_

_Haruno Sakura_

_P.S. I admire your bravery and patience for reading this letter all the way to the end. Wow! You'll be blessed!_

_P.P.S. Don't get too freaked out by me, okay? I never meant to scare you. I'm just weird. Sorry!_

_Date: 6/22/2004

* * *

_

**Message in a Bottle**

Sasuke furrows his eyebrows as he folds the paper together and looks at the broken bottle on the floor. He walks to a nearby closet, bringing out a broom and a dustpan in the process. He lives near the sea in Konoha, a small but busy city eastern of Japan, and Suna is only a few hours away to the South. Just this morning he went to a beach near his house and found this interesting message stuck inside a wine bottle. Out of curiosity and boredom, he brought it home.

He remains unfeigned as he sweeps off the broken pieces of glass from his balcony.

He lives all by himself in a small house outskirts from the city. His parents died when he was very young, and he barely remembers them. His own brother disappeared when he was a mere toddler; probably kidnapped. His own uncle died last summer from cancer. He's always been alone, and it's only the large amount of money in his back account that's keeping him alive and wanting to _stay_ alive. . .

Needless to say, he has no reason to live.

He looks down at the folded piece of paper in his pocket and wonders.

Throwing the remains of glass and dust into the trashcan from his dustpan, he later sets them back into their rightful place in the closet down the hallway and heads into his own room.

He is going to be busy for the next few days.

* * *

Suna is a small and peaceful village southern of Japan and not too far from the seacoast. As he drives into the slightly-deserted town with a cigarette in his mouth and the window opened, he looks around through his designer sunglasses. Children near the road are running around and playing tag as their mothers watch them carefully. Many houses there are old and worn from the weather, some looking as if they are about to collapse. Sasuke turns sharply onto a small road off to the side and looks at his GPS.

"You have arrived at 166 Katana Street," it says, and Sasuke halts to a stop.

To his left is a small white house with a brown roof and a small balcony in the front. He parks his car to the side of the road where many others are, and steps out from his vehicle.

An old woman wearing a worn-out dress exits the battered door and out into the small front yard. His figure catches her attention, and she looks at his car confusingly.

"Can I help you?" she asks.

Sasuke walks over to her and bows, a short fence is the only thing keeping them apart. He reaches into his pocket and fetches out a fresh name-card, handing it to her. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, and I am a Neurologist. I've received a letter from a girl named Haruno Sakura. Perhaps you know her?"

The lady's eyes widen.

She nods hastily, and opens the small door of the fence. Bowing, she welcomes him in. "Please, come in," she says, and he nods as he steps into her front yard. "And how is it that you know about my granddaughter?"

Sasuke takes out the letter from his pocket and hands it to her to read.

Her eyes widen and narrow and clenches in despair as she reads through the message, and she places a hand over her chest as if she is about to cry. When she is done, she holds the letter to her chest and looks at Sasuke as she sighs. There are tears in the corners of her eyes. "And you are here to help?"

"I would like to help."

"We cannot afford medication. If. . .there is any for her condition."

Sasuke nods. "I offer free tests and examinations."

The old woman sighs and nods back, as well. "Please, come in." She leads him into the house.

Inside, the place is dark but quite well kept. There are many antiques on the tables and pictures on the walls, and through the living room, she woman gestures to a young woman on the balcony.

Standing there and facing out is a girl with long pink hair and clad in a yellow sundress, a thin jacket over it. At the middle of September, it is already fairly cold, and Sasuke wonders how she could stand there like it is nothing and remain unfeigned. The old lady catches her breath and looks at him, handing him her letter, as well. "That is Sakura. Would you like to talk to her?"

Sasuke nods. "If you don't mind, I would like to talk to her alone."

She hesitates, but looks down at his card and nods, sighing. "Very well."

She turns around after leaving a wavering look at Sakura and exits the room.

Sasuke slowly walks towards the door leading to the balcony and slides it open, letting in a fresh breeze of cool air. Sakura turns around in surprise.

Sasuke stares as his gaze meet with the most brilliant green eyes he's ever seen. Pink – _pink_ – bangs frame her face and over her eyes as her lips part slightly in surprise and her eyebrow quirks up confusingly. Sasuke doesn't realize that he was holding his breath until the girl speaks.

"Who are you?"

He bows at her politely and hands her her letter. She takes it, still cautious, and reads it, looking thoroughly surprised.

"I received your letter a few days ago."

Sakura looks up and gives him a small smirk. She places the hand that's holding onto the paper on her hip and sends him a slightly teasing look. "You must think I'm a freak, huh?"

Sasuke shakes his head. "This is almost nothing compared to the other people I've worked with before."

Her eyes widen in understanding, and she only nods professionally, as if knowing why he's here. She turns around to face the scene again. "Where are you from?" she asks softly as Sasuke walks up next to her. The cool wind hits his face gently, almost comfortingly.

He puts his hands in his pockets. "Konoha."

Sakura's eyebrow quirks up in interest. "What's your name?"

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. 25."

She smiles, nodding, and that is the start of their new friendship.

* * *

"I know I've got issues," she says on his second day of staying. Her grandmother offered him their guest room in return for his services. They are playing chess, and her legs are crossed and eyes smirking as she stares at him with one hand on the side of her chair. "I'm not dumb, and I don't _actually_ have mental issues. It's just that, sometimes, this small part of my brain in the back of my mind acts up and I just want to commit suicide. It happens very suddenly. One second, I'm me, outgoing, brash and annoying, the next I'm holding a knife to my neck and cutting myself with it. Although I haven't done that in three years and there are no more kitchen utensils in this house anymore. Kinda sad, huh?"

Sasuke nods in understanding. "So you can't control it?"

Sakura tilts her head and looks thoughtful. "No, not really. But I do know that whenever I'm alone and I remember what happened to my parents, I start to act completely dysfunctional. However, if there is someone nearby, I'm completely normal." She smiles. "Like now. I'm normal. Well, I seem normal, right?"

Sasuke almost smirks. "Aa."

She sighs as she leans her head back on her chair and looks at the ceiling. "My parents died around three years ago, during a bank robbery. There were these crazy people waving around guns and we were all scared to death. Then they really got crazy, and started shooting everywhere. My parents and this other guy died because we were right beside these robbers, and they tried to protect me." She smiles sadly. "They bled to death in my arms."

Sasuke furrows his eyebrows and grimaces slightly. He is not surprised if she was affected by _that_. However, having one part of her brain go completely wrong. . .?

_That's interesting._ He looks at the lovely girl. _And ironic._

"And when did you first act suicidal?"

Sakura straightens up and shrugs. "The first time I tried killing myself was the with knife thing. You know, the one I mentioned, like, five seconds ago? I was making dinner for my grandma one day who moved over here to take care of me. Suddenly, I don't know why, I just starting cutting myself. First my neck, then my chest, then my arms." to prove the point, she pulls up the sleeves of her sweatshirt and shows him a few scars on her skin. "See?"

Sasuke looks and nods.

Sakura drops her arms down and sighs. "Then my grandma came in when she heard me screaming, and told me to stop. It's weird; when I saw her, I almost completely calmed down and dropped the knife. But I was bleeding all over the place, so I was sent to the hospital. But you know here; a small, deserted place with no actual medications; they just told me to be more careful and that they couldn't do anything about it, and they wrapped me up. When we got home, my grandma was scared, and put all the kitchen utensils away in a box and sent it to my neighbor's place." she tilts her head to the side. "Those neighbors. My best friend lives there, too. Her name is Ino. You should meet her, sometime!"

Sasuke ignores the comment. "And you said you completely calmed down?"

Sakura nods back. "Yeah. Grandma stormed in, yelled at me to stop, and I guess I gasped and dropped the knife? I don't even think I was _thinking_ when I was cutting myself. The only memories I really have from each time I tried hurting myself was that I remembered my parents' death right before it. Strange, huh?"

"And when was the next time you hurt yourself?"

Sakura leans back again and thinks. "Well, the second time was about three months after. I don't really know how to swim, and my friends and I were just fooling around on the beach. You know the beach, there's barely any water there, and I was completely fine before. My grandma and I just sort of got over my first suicidal act because it only happened once, so we weren't being really careful. When my friends just sort of ran to the side to play tag and I didn't because I didn't like tag, I had a quick flashback of when I used to play with my parents there, and I ran into the water. They next thing we knew, I was nose-high in the water and was drowning myself. One of my friends heard me screaming and swam over to rescue me. . . he's a really good swimmer." She sighs again. "And after that, we were all really scared, and my thoughts got slightly darker to. There are many times where I'm like, 'It's a shame I'm still not dead'. I don't mean to think it, and the thought just pops into my mind."

Sasuke furrows his brows again and bites his lip. "Hn."

Sakura smirks at him and spreads her arms out to the side. "Scary, huh?"

"Very."

"Try hanging out with me for three years. I love my grandma, and I hate freaking her out every time I'm involved in an accident." she looks down sadly. "That's probably one of the reasons I actually agree to that part of me that I should die."

Sasuke glares at her slightly. "Don't think about that."

Sakura shrugs grimly.

"How many times did this happen?" Sasuke suddenly asks, and he finally moves one of his chess pieces when he realizes it was actually his turn. Sakura taps her chin.

"For the past three years, I've probably tried killing myself twenty times."

* * *

Sakura rolls her eyes. "You know, Sasuke, just because this place is, like, totally empty and really old and _breaking down_ and stuff, doesn't mean it's not pretty." As if to prove a point, she waves her hands around. "See? It's beautiful!"

Sasuke smirks and looks at the beach as she places her hands on her hips stubbornly. "Aa."

She smiles in satisfaction, and turns around to invite the gentle breeze in her face. She lifts her arms to the side and closes her eyes. "See? Now I'm flying."

Sasuke quirks an eyebrow at her amusingly.

For the past few days that he hung out with her, he realizes that she is actually a very lively, intelligent, and kind-hearted girl. Not only is she beautiful, and has a large amount of friends, she's also very well-liked by other children and adults in town. However, only a few know the problems that she's dealing with.

_She's very strong_, Sasuke concludes. _Very__ strong_.

So much pain that she has to deal with, and she does not show them.

"_I don't want others to feel sad just because of me_,_"_ she had said, smiling bitterly.

She suddenly turns around to face him and smirks, "You know, for a 25 year-old, you sure act a lot older."

Sasuke narrows his eyes at her teasingly. "It's called 'being mature'."

Sakura rolls her eyes. "And being boring!"

"Being mature has nothing to do with being boring."

Sakura smiles. "Yeah, whatever, at least you're handsome."

. . .Sasuke almost blushes.

"Aw, you're so cute when you're embarrassed!" she exclaims, laughing. "I swear my best friend Ino has the hots for you, even though she has a boyfriend."

Sasuke smirks. "I wouldn't be surprised."

Her eyes widen and she holds her hands up in front of her defensively. "Woah, woah, didn't mean to swell up your ego, there!"

"Tch."

Sakura laughs.

Abruptly, she turns around and narrows her eyes under the sun, shading them with her hand. She suddenly breaks into a goofy grin and grabs Sasuke's hand. He blinks at her in surprise.

"Let's go fly a kite!"

Sasuke adorned his face with a small smile as she drags him down the beach.

* * *

The first time he checks on a patient who almost committed suicide was easy, and fast. The guy was crying, and was depressed, and was apologizing to his wife repeatedly in her arms. However, after a few talks and consultations, he actually smiled.

He healed fast.

Sasuke wiped her face with a wet towel and she flinches at the sudden pain, one eye shut. Her grip on his pants tighten.

"I've got it here," he says to her grandmother, who looks at them worriedly before nodding and backing out of the room. He returns his attention back onto the girl before him and gives her a slightly disappointed look. She looks as if she is a child who's just been yelled at for taking too much cookies in one time. He continues wiping her face. "Sorry you had to go through that."

Sasuke only blinks once. "Hn."

Her green eyes fans over his face almost wonderingly as he cleans up the rest of the wounds on her body. He then puts the blood-soaked towel into a bucket of water and watches as red stained the clear liquid. She grimaces.

"One minute," he says, still looking at the bucket, and she blinks at him in confusion. "Just one minute of leaving your side and talking to this other old man and you managed to throw yourself down two flights of stairs?"

Sakura laughs sheepishly. "Like I said, I've got issues."

Sasuke quirks an eyebrow at her. "And you say that like it's something to be proud of."

Sakura feels completely ashamed.

Sasuke sighs and pushes away the bucket after he realizes he doesn't really need it anymore. He covers her wounds with some bandages; it stings. He stares at her after she flinches.

Slowly and tentatively, he lifts her hand up to his lips and kisses it.

Her eyes widen as he does the same for her other arm. He's never been one to be intimate, especially towards someone he barely knows. Yet, even if they only know each other for a few days, he already feels like he's known her for a life time. Her eyes are bright as she stares at him.

Smiling, she suddenly touches his cheek.

And she kisses him.

* * *

"This. . . is wrong."

Sasuke looks at her curiously through the corners of his eyes, an eyebrow quirked. "You're twenty," he says, "it's not illegal."

Sakura laughs and shake her head. She is laying on her side, looking at him with a sad mirth in her eyes. "I'm your patient."

"So?"

Sakura looks down and traces circles on his bare chest. It tickles. "I'm. . .not normal."

He catches her hand, and kisses her knuckles. "We can change that."

She sighs, and leans forward to rest her forehead on the tip of his shoulder. He feels her hot breath against his skin as they lay in her bed for a while, bodies tangled, and he closes his eyes in contentment at the feeling of her bare skin against his.

Suddenly, his arm feels wet.

His eyes open slowly as he hears her sniff, and she snuggles further into his side. She has his right arm in her hands in front of her, and his other arm is encircled behind his head. Right now, he would do anything to have her let go of him so he can wrap her in his arms. He realizes that that's what she's trying to keep him from doing.

She says it's wrong for them to be like this, so why does it feel so _right_?

"Why is this wrong?" he suddenly murmurs into her hair, looking at her through his half-opened eyes. He can't see her face, but he could feel her emotions.

"Because. . .who knows when I'm gonna try killing myself again and you'll feel sad about it." she sniffs, and grips his arm tighter. "The reason I don't wanna tell my friends what's wrong with me is that I don't want them to feel guilty and sad if I do kill myself someday." Sasuke opens his mouth to retort, but she beats him to it. "You know it, Sasuke, you know that's going to happen some day."

"I won't let it happen," he says, his throat feeling oddly sore. She shakes his head and the movement rubs her skin against his.

"Some things are just meant to be." she mumbles, and sighs as she lifts her head to meet his gaze. "When was the last time you believed that you can change everything in the world?"

Sasuke couldn't say it, even if he wants to. He's never felt this way since many years ago, and that was nothing close to how strong he is feeling now.

_When I came here and met you. _He wants to say, closing his eyes when she pushes up to kiss him sadly. _When I fell madly in love with you.

* * *

_

"Here."

Sasuke looks at the paper that is offered to his face. He blinks at Sakura. "What?"

She smiles cheekily at him. "Write a letter! That's how I met you, right?"

Sasuke hears the meaning behind those words. She wants him to meet and fall in love with _another_ person and is trying to get away with it innocently so he has no reason to lash out at her.

He looks away and frowns. "No."

Pouting cutely, she throws the paper on the table dramatically. "You're so stubborn," she says, crossing her arms. "Seriously. You. Are. Stubborn. Don't you think it's just a miracle that you actually _got_ my bottle? It's, like, part of a fantasy or something!" She laughs. "It's so cool!"

Sasuke almost rolls his eyes. Only Sakura would get fed over small things like these. "Hn."

"I'm gonna write another one," she says, and snatches a pencil from nearby. "Since I can't afford to go to college and I have nothing to do, I often write letters and put them in the bottle, hoping someone would get them." she sends him a lovely smile. "At least _one_ worked."

"You've been waiting for a miracle."

She looks at him with an unreadable emotion in her eyes. "Basically. Yeah."

Sasuke leans over to her and kisses her.

"One day, you're going to realize what's happening now, and you're going to regret it," she murmurs against his lips, her eyes opened.

"I've never regretted anything."

Sakura smiles at him bitterly. "I have."

* * *

"This is my address," he says to her, handing her a piece of parchment paper that he has written on. She takes it. "Along with my phone number. Call me if I don't call you. I'll be back in a few weeks."

Sakura smiles at him sweetly. "Take your time."

He blinks at her, taking in her expression, before putting down his suitcase and suddenly pulling her into his arms. He kisses her passionately, so that he is sure that it would somehow leave a mark on her lips to inform her that she is his. So that it would haunt her if she wants to forget what they have, and she'd be too scared to do it again.

By the time he disconnects them, her lips are already red and swollen.

"I'll come back to you," he whispers against her skin, feeling her heart beat loudly inside her chest. "Wait for me."

Sakura looks at him with an unreadable emotion, again. Why is it that she can be so hard to read, sometimes? It almost disgusts him. She nods slowly at him. "I'll try." she pauses and smiles. "And I'll write you a letter right now."

He leaves the town with many other people waving goodbye. He will come back soon, and when he does, he'll hold her tight against his body to ensure her his love for her. She watches him drive down the dusty road and onto the highway.

He does not realize how big of a mistake he's made.

* * *

"I'm going to visit my old friends for a few hours, okay sweetie?" Grandma asks, looking at her granddaughter lovingly who is currently writing something on a piece of paper. After that man Uchiha Sasuke had came along and hung out with her for the past week, she has never seen her child more happy and bright, and more. . .her. Has she fully recovered?

Sakura lifts her head up from her concentrating state and smiles at her sweetly. She nods, "Okay. I love you! Be careful!"

The old woman smiles and walks out the door.

Sakura looks back down, smiling, and reads over her handiwork. She then rolls up the letter and tucks it into a clean wine bottle and leans back. She looks to her left where another bottle contains a previously written letter that she just decided to discard before she wrote a new one.

She reaches over and takes it.

* * *

Grandmother sighs as she walks up the front porch and unlocks the door, tired. Sure she's had a lot of fun with her old friends who are just visiting the town and all, but all they did was talk and babble about how their lives had been for the past few years. Needless to say, it was very boring.

She almost laughs at how at an age like her, she can still have such teenage thoughts.

"I'm home, sweetie," she calls out, and sets her keys on a table. She peers into the living room where Sakura has her head resting on the table.

_Probably sleeping,_ she smiles softly, and grabs a blanket from the sofa. She walks over to her granddaughter–

And halts.

There sits Sakura, with paper underneath her face and her eyes closed in contentment. In her right hand is a broken bottle, and in front of her is an unbroken one, standing, with a piece of paper underneath written with the large words: "For Sasuke!"

In her left hand is a large piece of broken glass, soaking in dry blood.

* * *

Three days later, he opens his door to find a red-eyed girl at his doorstep, her body slouching from exhaustion and pain as she meets his gaze. He blinks at her, recognizing her face.

"Uchiha Sasuke?"

He nods, even though they both know she's sure of who he is.

Ino reaches into her bag and pulls out a wine bottle. Inside is a rolled-up letter tucked safely inside the glass. She hands it to him. He takes it.

"I'm sorry."

Sasuke blinks, and watches as Ino turns around and walks away.

He later finds himself at the place where he first found Sakura's bottle. He sits down on a rock and looks at the bottle in his hands.

He raises his hand, and swings down before the glass breaks with a loud 'crack'.

_Hello, my name is Haruno Sakura._

_I love you–_

Sasuke closes his eyes and crunches up the paper, before throwing it to the side.

The wind blows coldly against his cheek, almost tauntingly, and he sighs as he listens to the sound of waves crashing against the shore and seagulls crying overhead. The broken bottle rattles as it rolls side to side with the wind. Sasuke looks down at it.

He picks up a shattered piece of glass–

–_And I regret it.

* * *

_

_Oh, wow. . .I'm just horrible, aren't I? Killed off Sakura twice, and foreshadowing Sasuke's death. . ._

_Yeah, I just wrote a tragedy before this where Sakura died, too. I'm ashamed of myself. -hits my own head with a hammer- Ow._

_I love Sakura and Sasuke! Just so you know._

_And after reading this over, I realize that it's Inner Sakura who was basically telling her to die. Evil Inner, huh? Evil._

_Much love, readers! Criticizes are. . .appreciated. I suppose._


End file.
